I raced a CLK430 AMG the other day.
I believe time has come for a discussion as to what exactly makes an AMG car an AMG.
There's the obvious, car built at Affalterbach.
But in order to determine others we need to understand the business structure of AMG as well as it's distributors, sub distributors and the changing rules and laws of the various countries that Mercedes were sold along with the policy of AMG NA as well as the US Federal Government and in some cases the individual States.
For example, in the USA I believe that very few, if any, Affalterbach built cars were imported although a few Grey Market exceptions probably occurred. This was due to the NHTSB (National Highway Transportation Safety Board) rules governing crash standards and the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) rules governing emissions along with the definition of what is a "manufacturer."
Engines such 6.0 DOHC M117 "Hammer" engine were shipped separately from the cars for installation in Westmont (AMG NA HQ - Richard Buxbaum) and possibly BHMC (Beverly Hill Motor Cars - Andy Cohen).
Adding to the confusion is the situation where some AMG engines were assembled by Motorcraft in Bensenville, Illinois from parts manufactured and shipped from Germany. I heard that Motorcraft also made cranks in some cases.
Regarding the Coachwork.
In order to circumvent the NHTSB rules body parts were installed in the USA. In order to qualify (per AMG NA policy) for the AMG badge one had to purchase 2 exterior "optik" items.
In other words -- if you bought front and rear spoilers from AMG NA they would allow you to buy and install an AMG badge (later changed to /////AMG). The question that should be answered is "since AMG NA determined that an owner needed to have 2 exterior items in order for them to buy and display an AMG badge, does this make the car an original AMG? It's easy to say "no" to that but what about the German owner who had Affalterbach build a car with only exterior or interior, I.E., no engine or performance, modifications? No one would dispute the fact that that car is a real AMG.If it agreed upon that what AMG NA said is the definition than anyone who has bought a front and rear spoiler can legitimately claim to have an AMG car. If we rule out that option and only use Affalterbach built cars as the standard then VERY few "real" AMG cars exist in the USA. AMG gave it's distributors a wide latitude when building their cars. AMG NA could do pretty much what they wanted as could have Strattons. No one would dispute that the Stratton Wide Body coupe is not an AMG but as a wide body I do not believe, but do not know 100%, it was built at Affalterbach (but I would be willing to stand corrected).
Then there's the "Westmont only" metal rear spoiler which never saw the light of Germany. Is that an AMG part?
Or the NOS 124 wide body panels that are in a shed in the UK that have AMG part numbers.
Or the mention of "plastic front fenders" for the 124 Wide Body package alluded to in the April 1990 article of Road & Track Specials ("plastic in the front, steel in the back"). Interesting, plastic front fenders (124 881 41 01 and 124 881 42 01) were produced for the 500E for which production was geared up at roughly the same time (in Europe). The plastic 500E have the roughly the same contours as the Wide Body I believe.
Then there's the AMG UK Stratton cars, AMG of Canada (which may not have been part of AMG NA in spite of being in North America) and AMG of Japan which had all sorts of interesting items. The 124-036 500E muffler, E class wheel flares and the DOHC rear badge are but 3 examples of Japanese only items that carry HWA part numbers. The muffler and flares were "Made in Germany" items, I am not sure of the badge.
But I will leave others to pipe in on Canada, Japan and UK.
